As you enter a cave it is immediately obvious that green plants are no longer growing and, apart from a few spiders, there seems to be little else in there.
After a while you may notice a moth on the wall, or a fly, a different spiders web, some fungi growing on a log. And in the water a fish, and deeper in the cave as you crawl along with your nose nearer the floor you may spot a shrimp, a flatworm and other small crawling things that all seem to be white.
When you come out of the cave you may notice you can smell the outside before you can see it, and then how the plants change from simple plants like mosses to ferns then flowering plants as you leave the cave.

This website is to help cavers identify the organisms they see while visiting the caves of Britain. and to help them understand the relationships between them. It includes life around cave entrances, temporary visitors to caves as well as the inhabitants of the dark zone. It is based on caves with a bias towards those caves used by outdoor activity providers. The scientific terminology has been kept to a minimum (!) to help the non specialist - there is a glossary to help with the unfamiliar words. Hopefully the website will inspire you to take a second look at the creatures you see underground - many caves do not have a comprehensive list of organisms and there are many new discoveries to be made.

Click on the main headings on the navigation bar (on the left) to open the subheadings - these open below the main headings. The caves mentioned on this site are just examples of where the organism can be found, it is not intended to be a complete list. References have been left out of the text and have been collated under Acknowledgements.

Click on the photographs for a larger image.

This site can only present a snapshot of what lies beneath but should you discover major omissions, mistakes or broken links please contact Andy Lewington :